Agar agar leaves reader puzzled

Agar agar is taken from seaweed, is odorless and tasteless, and is often used in cooking in a manner similar to gelatin. Another place you might've seen agar agar: a petri dish, which contains agar jelly for bacterial culture, shown here in a microbiological laboratory in Berlin March 1, 2008.

Agar agar is taken from seaweed, is odorless and tasteless, and is often used in cooking in a manner similar to gelatin. Another place you might've seen agar agar: a petri dish, which contains agar jelly for bacterial culture, shown here in a microbiological laboratory in Berlin March 1, 2008. (Fabrizio Bensch/Reuters)

A: No, Scott, not a typo. Agar agar, also known simply as agar, is a real ingredient. It is made from dried seaweed and has no taste. Agar agar has been used as a thickener for centuries in Japan, where it is known as "kanten." Unlike gelatin, agar agar is vegetarian. It is firmer than gelatin and sets at room temperature.

The Dressel cake recipe called for agar agar to help stabilize the whipped cream filling.

Agar agar is sold as flakes, threads, bars or in powdered form. You can find it at Asian markets, specialty and natural food stores, some supermarkets.

You have likely encountered agar agar but haven't realized it. If not in foods, especially desserts, then perhaps at the doctor's office where agar agar is used to culture bacteria in petri dishes.

Q: I like hot and spicy food, hot peppers, wasabi, horseradish—you get the idea. In a conversation I had about wine I was told people with tastes like mine could never taste the subtle flavors and aromas in wines. In general do you think this is true? I read the descriptors on labels and can almost...

After 10 people were shot — seven of them in one incident — overnight in Baltimore following the city's most violent month in decades, police announced Sunday that 10 federal agents will embed with the city's homicide unit for the next two months.